NUNEATON film maker Ken Loach produced his landmark documentary on homelessness, Cathy Come Home, 40 years ago, but a new BBC survey says the plight of the homeless has not improved.

The survey, commissioned for the No Home season of programming to coincide with the anniversary of Cathy Come Home, reveals that people continue to have little understanding of the homeless and twice as many Britons feel more sympathetic to a homeless dog than a homeless person.

Nearly half of those surveyed - 41 per cent - believed many homeless people did not want to be housed and 50 per cent felt homeless people refused to help themselves

Brian Woods, director of Evicted, which is being broadcast on BBC 1 tonight said: "This research underlines the desperate need to make housing and homelessness a priority, and to reach out and help those who find themselves with no home."